Killer Snails LLC aims to integrate the "how" and "why" components of learning currently lacking in the Educational games market to create imaginative, engaging products that are intellectually stimulating, fun, and inspirational. Developed with an active research marine biochemist Killer Snails, LLC games are scientifically accurate. Vetted by an educational psychologist, our games reflect how children learn the specific STEM content contained within the game. With expertise of our internationally known, award-winning game designers (Playmatics), each game cleverly

combines entertainment, design, and development. The Killer Snails, LLC team is crafted to be nimble, exploratory, and vibrant to create educational games that will transform learning for a generation of students.

Our company is quite young- less than a year old. So far, we have built a strong relationship with the American Museum of Natural History which partnered with us on creating our first game and currently carries the game in its shop. We produced our first game, Killer Snails: Assassins of the Sea as an analog card game. During the next six months, our two goals are to successfully launch our card game and to create an online version of that game and develop an assessment dashboard to ascertain how players are interacting with the game and incorporate citizen science opportunities in the player’s area.

One of our primary challenges is identifying channel partners and building relationships with them. Additional challenges we anticipate include making changes to the game as a result of putting it online, the challenges in developing the appropriate assessment metrics, and developing a robust marketing strategy to ensure a successful roll out.

What do you hope to get out of membership

NY Media Center and from the other members of the incubator. Being in the communal space will enable us to learn from other members in a more casual format. The setting supports informal collaboration and learning which we love and is perfect for Killer Snails’ current status. We hope to contribute to the community by offering our expertise (project management, educational assessment, marine biochemistry, etc) as needed and by being active members of the community.

Why is now the right time for your company

There is a convergence of national interest in games as learning vehicles and a focus on keeping teenagers interested in science. We are thrilled to have just received a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation that supports our continued development of engaging, scientifically accurate games. We believe now is the perfect time to design these games with built in opportunities to join local citizen science activities to continue the learning from the virtual world to the physical world.

Are You Seeking Collaborators?

We are currently collaborating with NY Media Center members Nick Fortugno and Patrick Mooney of Playmatics. We are looking for more collaborators particularly in the areas of visual storytelling and cross-platform story world building and narrative design. As mentioned previously, Killer Snails is a very young company so we expect to discover new areas of collaboration as we grow.

Jessica Ochoa Hendrix has worked in public education for 10+ years, most recently as an educational consultant focused on leadership development. She received her MBA with a concentration in Social Enterprise from Columbia Business School. During her time at Columbia, Jessica was the recipient of the prestigious Board of Overseers Fellowship, and was awarded the Nathan Gantcher Prize for Social Enterprise. Prior to business school, Jessica worked in marketing for the Harvard Business Review and The Economist. She holds a BA from the University of Texas at Austin. She has a love of science (official member of the Secret Science Club for 3+ years!), project management (color-coded show flows are the best!) and leadership development (4 years of managing and designing school leader fellowship programs!). Combining these three passions has resulted in a dream role.